Grant Imahara VEXplorer Challenge

In June 2008, I entered the Grant Imahara VEXplorer Challenge. It was great to participate and win first place!

My Video Entry

Application

In order to become a finalist, participants had to create a proposal of what they plan to do with the kit. Twenty-five applicants with the most creative ideas were chosen to receive a VEXplorer kit and become finalists.

Here's my application

Finalists

I received and email stating that I had become a finalist. I received the VEXplorer kit and a $100 gift certificate to vexrobotics.com to purchase parts for my idea.

My Robot

Although in my application I proposed to build a robot with a more robust drive system and even a card-dealing robot (which was mentioned in this press release) I decided to pursue a design which I found more interesting: a robot that can perform chemical experiments remotely. For this design and implementation, I won first place.

The "Making of"

I shot the external footage with a standard digital camera (Samsung S8) and the on-board camera footage was recorded with a TV capture card. I used the SolidWorks Student Design Kit 2007 (included in the VEXplorer kit) to model the robot in 3D and to create the 3D animations. Adobe Premiere Pro was used to edit all the sources. The introduction was recorded in front of a plastic green table-cloth (makeshift green screen) and the explosion was stock footage.